Chinese Inflation Cools

This was less than expectations for a 2.7% rise, and down from 3%
the previous month.

Food prices tend to pick up toward the end of the year and
therefore, CPI is expected to moderate only a bit, despite the
high base effect, UBS' Harrison Hu said in a note published
before the data was released.

"A decline in CPI to below 3.0% would be good news to market,
which is concerned about monetary tightening by the PBoC," Bank
of America's Ting Lu said.

Meanwhile, producer prices fell 1.4% on the year in December.
This missed estimates for a 1.3% fall, and compared with a 1.4%
fall the previous month.